Gary Cooper - the greatest listener in the world! And he used to answer in kind, which is wonderful because you don't see that anymore. People don't listen. They really don't.
It comes as a great shock…to discover that the flag to which you have pledged allegiance…has not pledged allegiance to you. It comes as a great shock to see Gary Cooper killing off the Indians, and although you are rooting for Gary Cooper, that the Indians are you.
Moviegoers like to believe that those they have made stars are great actors. People used to say that Gary Cooper was a fine actor probably because when they looked in his face they were ready to give him their power of attorney.
My old drama coach used to say, 'Don't just do something, stand there.' Gary Cooper wasn't afraid to do nothing.
That's the point. Every kind of animal thinks its own kind of animal is wonderful. So people getting married think they're wonderful, and that they're going to have a baby-- that's wonderful, when actually they're as ugly as rhinoceroses. Just because we think we're so wonderful doesn't mean we really are. We could be really terrible animals and just never admit it because it would hurt so much.
I seldom ever missed a Gary Cooper picture if I could manage to see it.
I used to not listen that much, but I've really learnt to listen to other people and to really listen to what they're saying. I've found, especially being on a film set, people have so many different stories; if you just listen, you can pick up so much stuff. I try to listen as much as I can.
I don't look at certain things on TV anymore. I don't listen to certain music anymore. I make sure my kids don't listen to it. It's funny because back in the days I could look at comedy shows and all kind of stuff and you didn't even realize how much cursing it had in it.
I used to listen to so many song bands that were all straight people, and my thinking on it was, 'Well, if I can kind of suspend my own perception of myself and listen to Rivers Cuomo singing about girls, then I don't see why a straight guy can't listen to a band called PWR BTTM.'
Look at the greatest dressers in history - Philadelphia socialite and diplomat Angier Biddle Duke, Sir Anthony Eden, Fred Astaire, the Duke of Windsor, John F. Kennedy, and Gary Cooper - they all sport the well placed pocket adornment.
When you're still, and some actors are really brilliant at that, you bring a kind of energy to you as opposed to sending the energy out. There are some actors, like Gary Cooper or Kevin Spacey, that are absolutely brilliant - Gene Hackman is another - at being and allowing the audience to just do the work.
Anyone who would let Gary Cooper and the entire cast go charging on horseback without first finding out what kind of footing the horses had is nuts and cannot possibly direct a motion picture.
People know me because I play the monsters, but I'm most recognized from the small roles in which they see my face. None of that stuff really bothers me. Whether I'm recognized in or out of a costume isn't a kind of pressure I put myself through anymore.
It was easy to get a job at the Cedar Bar because people came and went, but I didn't like the atmosphere. Instead, I got a job at Cooper Union Library. I stayed at Cooper Union for seven years; it was my salvation. While I worked there, I also read books of every kind.
I was shaped by the heroes in the films I saw, which you always want to emulate and be like. I wanted to be like Alan Ladd, Gary Cooper, Jimmy Stewart.
I think people really want to see the real because the world is portrayed at such a low level that if you come out with a real wholesome show, people don't want to see that anymore.
I think people really want to see the real because the world is portrayed at such a low level that if you come out with a real wholesome show, people dont want to see that anymore.